Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains eBook

“You boys take care of the men in front, and
Clif and I will settle this affair back here,”
Ernie shouted. “Don’t let them escape.”

With these words, the patrol leader seized the latch
of the nearest auto door and pressed down on it.
As he did this, the door flew open with a heavy swing,
and Ernie jumped aside just in time to ward off a
body-lunge blow from the fist of a man who sprang out
of the machine like a beast leaping with all fours.

In less time than it takes to tell it, two of the
men had broken through the cordon of Boy Scouts around
the automobile and disappeared in the darkness.
The third, Mr. Stanlock’s chauffeur, was not
so desperately courageous. The menace of two
or three gun muzzles held within a few feet of his
face was more than he cared to oppose, so he remained
a prisoner.

“Look out, boys,” called out Hazel Edwards.
“There are three more automobiles coming along
behind with desperate men in them. Each of those
autos has three girl prisoners in charge of two men,
one of them the driver.”

“Miles, you and Hal and Jerry stay here and
guard the prisoner and protect the girls against those
rascals if they return,” Ernie directed.
“The rest of us will run back a short distance
and meet the next machine before they suspect something
wrong.”

As he finished speaking, Ernie led the way, followed
by four other boys, back through the snow twenty or
thirty yards, and then stopped and listened.
A short distance further, they heard a sound the cause
of which could not be mistaken. It was the rapid,
pulsating chug-chug of an automobile engine.
They waited a few minutes, but it appeared to be coming
no nearer.

“The snow has stopped this one, too,”
said Clifford. “Come on and we’ll
give them a surprise.”

A few paces farther brought the boys in view of a
machine with the engine running idle and no driver
visible in front. Naturally this made them suspicious
and a halt was called for a little circumspection.
Then, carefully, cautiously, they advanced toward the
automobile, keeping nervous watch on all sides to avoid
a surprise.

They reached the machine, which they had been able
to locate by the noise of the engine, and found it
also deserted, save for the three prisoners, bound
and gagged, in the car. While the other four in
the party of rescuers kept watch against a surprise,
Clifford cut the bonds on the wrists of the girls
and removed the gags from their mouths.

“Where did the villains in charge of this car
go?” was the first question he put to the released
prisoners.

“They skipped,” replied Violet Munday.
“Two men who had been in the machine ahead came
back and said the game was up, that they were discovered
by a force of Boy Scouts armed with guns and they couldn’t
afford to put up a fight, for even if they won, the
whole country would be aroused and they couldn’t
hope to carry out their original plans. They
went back to warn the other men. No doubt you’ll
find the other machines abandoned, too.”